“Iron Man 2” Will Be About Identity

Work on the script for “Iron Man 2” has begun and several people associated with the project say the theme of the next installment will be identity.

Writer Justin Theroux told MTV  the biggest difference between the first and second installments is  a total paradigm shift in dealing with Tony Stark.

“The obvious thing to improve upon — well, it’s not even an improvement it’s just something to embrace — which is that he’s now a hero that lives in the real world. That’s unique,” Theroux said of Stark’s earth-shattering revelation at the end of the first film that he was Iron Man, making him the first-ever cinematic super without a secret identity.

Theroux isn’t ready to talk specifics, but says the nature of his identity is something that’s going to be a monumental part of the second film.

“Yeah, it’s something that we’ve made a real decision to run towards rather than away from,” he said.

Actor Robert Downey, Jr. concurred and added, “It’s one thing to say you’re Iron Man, but what does it actually mean to become someone that can shoulder that responsibility? As we noticed at the end, he’s still not even responsible enough to read off the card that Shield and the government have given him. He still can’t help doing his own thing. He’ll have to come to terms with that.”

“I think we could have more excitement. We could use a love triangle or two. I think it’s really important to keep up that idea of Tony’s interfacing with inanimate objects,” Downey said. “He’s at his greatest ease when he’s faced with machines. I would love to see a little shout-out to the fact that he’s an MIT graduate. I love the idea of him inviting over a bunch of super-nerds from MIT who wind up figuring into [“Iron Man 3″] a little bit”